There has been widespread condemnation of Egypt’s death sentences passed on its former president Mohamed Mursi and 105 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood group at the weekend.
The United States of America expressed deep concern yesterday and elderly Qatar-based Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who is also a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood and is among those given the death penalty, said the rulings were nonsense and violated Islamic law.
In a video statement posted on Qaradawi’s twitter account yesterday, he said: “These rulings have no value and cannot be implemented because they are against the rules of God, against the people’s law…no one will accept it.”
His statement was broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel in Qatar.
In line with all death sentences, the decisions issued on Saturday will be referred to the grand mufti, Egypt’s religious authority, for a non-binding opinion.
A final court ruling is expected on June 2.
The charges relate to Mursi’s escape along with other Brotherhood leaders from a prison north of Cairo during the 2011 Arab Spring unrest.
Qaradawi denied involvement in the escape in his video statement and said he was in Qatar at the time.
An Egyptian regarded as one of Islam’s top thinkers, Qaradawi’s religious shows on Al Jazeera have been watched by millions.
His criticism of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the former army chief elected to succeed Mursi after a popularly backed takeover in 2013, has added to a rift between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia considers the Islamist group a terrorist organisation and has heavily funded Sisi’s cash-strapped government.
Amid the tensions, Qaradawi’s televised Friday sermons have gone off the air, but he continues to criticise Egypt’s new rulers in conferences and statements to the press and followers.
“We have consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and sentences, which are conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with Egypt’s international obligations and the rule of law,” a US State Department official said.
Noting that they were preliminary sentences, the official added: “We continue to stress the need for due process and individualised judicial processes for all Egyptians in the interests of justice.”
Many of those sentenced on Saturday were tried in absentia. Defendants can still appeal even after the mufti’s recommendation.
Mursi, elected president in 2012, ruled for only a year before mass protests spurred the military to overthrow him in July 2013.
He was among dozens of Islamist leaders detained amid a crackdown that left hundreds of Mursi supporters dead.
Mursi, sitting in a caged dock in the blue uniform of convicts having already been sentenced to 20 years for inciting violence, raised his fists defiantly when the verdict was read.
Hours after the ruling, gunmen shot dead two judges, a prosecutor and their driver in the strife-torn Sinai Peninsula, in the first such attack on the judiciary in the region.
The US State Department official said they had been senselessly murdered. “We reiterate our steadfast commitment to Egypt’s security,” the official added.
l Egypt has executed six members of a Sinai-based militant group with links to Islamic State for carrying out an attack on soldiers near Cairo last year, the state news agency reported yesterday.
The group, Sinai Peninsula, has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Mursi in 2013.
The case marked the first trial of members of Sinai Peninsula, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.
It was formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
The men were convicted on charges, which included carrying out an attack, which killed two army officers. — Reuters-AFP
Mursi death sentence condemned
The United States of America expressed deep concern yesterday and elderly Qatar-based Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who is also a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood and is among those given the death penalty, said the rulings were nonsense and violated Islamic law.
In a video statement posted on Qaradawi’s twitter account yesterday, he said: “These rulings have no value and cannot be implemented because they are against the rules of God, against the people’s law…no one will accept it.”
His statement was broadcast by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel in Qatar.
In line with all death sentences, the decisions issued on Saturday will be referred to the grand mufti, Egypt’s religious authority, for a non-binding opinion.
A final court ruling is expected on June 2.
The charges relate to Mursi’s escape along with other Brotherhood leaders from a prison north of Cairo during the 2011 Arab Spring unrest.
Qaradawi denied involvement in the escape in his video statement and said he was in Qatar at the time.
An Egyptian regarded as one of Islam’s top thinkers, Qaradawi’s religious shows on Al Jazeera have been watched by millions.
His criticism of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the former army chief elected to succeed Mursi after a popularly backed takeover in 2013, has added to a rift between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia considers the Islamist group a terrorist organisation and has heavily funded Sisi’s cash-strapped government.
Amid the tensions, Qaradawi’s televised Friday sermons have gone off the air, but he continues to criticise Egypt’s new rulers in conferences and statements to the press and followers.
“We have consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and sentences, which are conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with Egypt’s international obligations and the rule of law,” a US State Department official said.
Noting that they were preliminary sentences, the official added: “We continue to stress the need for due process and individualised judicial processes for all Egyptians in the interests of justice.”
Many of those sentenced on Saturday were tried in absentia. Defendants can still appeal even after the mufti’s recommendation.
Mursi, elected president in 2012, ruled for only a year before mass protests spurred the military to overthrow him in July 2013.
He was among dozens of Islamist leaders detained amid a crackdown that left hundreds of Mursi supporters dead.
Mursi, sitting in a caged dock in the blue uniform of convicts having already been sentenced to 20 years for inciting violence, raised his fists defiantly when the verdict was read.
Hours after the ruling, gunmen shot dead two judges, a prosecutor and their driver in the strife-torn Sinai Peninsula, in the first such attack on the judiciary in the region.
The US State Department official said they had been senselessly murdered. “We reiterate our steadfast commitment to Egypt’s security,” the official added.
l Egypt has executed six members of a Sinai-based militant group with links to Islamic State for carrying out an attack on soldiers near Cairo last year, the state news agency reported yesterday.
The group, Sinai Peninsula, has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Mursi in 2013.
The case marked the first trial of members of Sinai Peninsula, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.
It was formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
The men were convicted on charges, which included carrying out an attack, which killed two army officers. — Reuters-AFP
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